Latest / Modern Gov Matters / Building Engagement from the Inside Out with Renae Jackson
Transcript
- Sarah Loyd: Welcome to Modern Gov Matters. Sarah Loyd, and this show is all about honest conversations with local government communicators about what's actually working, what's not, and the stuff that keeps you up at night. Modern Gov Matters is presented by CivAll, powered by Social News Desk. Most government communicators spend their careers trying to reach the public. Today's guest made a career pivot that asks a harder question first. What happens when the people inside your organization aren't engaged? Renae Jackson is the Equity and Engagement Director for the city of Decatur, Georgia, and she's here to make the case that community trust starts from the inside out. Welcome to Modern Gov Matters, Renae. Renae Jackson: Thank you. Thanks for having me. Sarah Loyd: Yeah, of course. So before we get into it, I have to mention that the City of Decatur has a FIFA World Cup related event series happening right now called Decatur Watch Fest, which is genuinely one of the more creative community engagement ideas that we've come across recently. So that seems to have your fingerprints all over it, Renae. Can you give us the 30 second pitch? Renae Jackson: Yeah, so for thirty-four days, the city of Decatur will ⁓ air ⁓ some the and we will have thirty-four days full of festivals for the community to come to our front porch that we call it, our new Decatur Square. ⁓ And in Decatur there's festival for everything. As a matter of fact, we have t-shirts to say there's a festival for that. Sarah Loyd: awesome. So your is actually Equity and Engagement Director, which means something very specific in Decatur, and it's probably something different than what people picture. And before the show, you described yourself as a community and culture builder who builds meaningful connections across people, programs, and systems to create spaces where individuals can see their why. And that's a big job description. Can you tell me a little bit about what that looks like, maybe on your average Tuesday? Renae Jackson: So no no two days are alike. it just really depends on being keeping my finger on the pulse of what's happening on not only in our community, ⁓ within our organization and within the nation, right? And so how are we connecting to our and how are we staying connected to our values? And how are we thinking about connecting with each And so really depending on each other to move forward and make Decatur, a place where people want to stay. They want to grow, whether it's internally within the organization or within the community. And how do we continue to make this place good enough for everybody, not just for the folks who quote unquote got in? and so I want to I am actively working to do that and doing that with my team. And also one thing that we hear from ⁓ within our organization is equity and communications is everybody's job. equity and communications is everybody's job. How do we get people to see that every day in their work, every day in their personal lives? And how do we spread the love, if you will, when we're thinking about equity and communications and how we continue to better ourselves? How do we get people to see that every day in their work, every day in their personal lives? And how do we spread the love, if you will, when we're thinking about equity and communications and how we continue to better ourselves? Sarah Loyd: Yeah, I love that. And yeah, communications and equity really should be everyone's job. And, you know, hearing resident concerns and hearing those internal concerns as well. So you've been with the city of Decatur since 2007, and you came up through communications and the PIO role and then moved into this director position. So what was the biggest mindset shift between those two roles? Renae Jackson: Thinking about being a leader. And so not necessarily being the person to receive the task, but how do I help guide and advise in our organization, folks in our community around the the values and the goals that we have? And so being more so of like a in charge for in in many ways, if you will. Sarah Loyd: ⁓ before we started, ⁓ you also said that you wanted to talk about something really specific on the show, the idea that effective citizen engagement requires really intentional employee engagement first. Can you tell me more about that? Renae Jackson: Yeah. So I mean we work to build this community engagement process. I'm specifically thinking about our master plans or our strategic plan. Decatur has community engagement as part of the fabric of our work. We do, we engage community all the time. And so if we're working with the community to create this strategic plan and then employees are the ones that have to follow this plan or make sure these goals are met. If we don't include employees in that that process and help them see how their work folds into this plan, then there's no buy-in. And so how do we get people to understand that they're not just a cog in the wheel? They're not just here to do the work that is being told, but employees are a part of the community. When I talk to folks, I teach elected officials community engagement. And I always say when I say community engagement, I mean our internal and external communities because we are all a part of the community. And yeah, you're gonna have some folks who just come here to work, but there are people, our people want to feel like they are cared for and they are thought about when these plans are put in place. Sarah Loyd: I love that. That's that's so cool. I love the the idea of people being being cared for, you know, not just making this a place for people to work, but really a place where they are tied into the fabric of the community. So when an employee isn't engaged, if they're not connected to the city's vision, what does that look like from a communication standpoint and what breaks down there? Renae Jackson: Yeah, people don't understand the why behind what they're doing. And so how do we help people understand this is why you're doing this? And if you are a part of the conversation, you can give your perspective as the one who's doing the work every day. And so people feel, they feel more included, they feel ⁓ ⁓ they're thought about in this process and they're not just being told what to do. And our are our biggest ambassadors. People don't care. If they see me walking out with a City of Decatur shirt, they don't care what department I work in. They know I work for the City of Decatur. And so the expectation is for them to have an answer. And I'm not saying that employees should have all the answers, but they should at least be able to point people to where they can find information, who they can talk to, especially if we have this expectation that we should not be passing people along or playing a game of telephone when folks need help. Sarah Loyd: Yeah, and that that seems like it would really, you know, make your residents feel even more cared for, that they're not being passed around. They're not just a number, but they're really, you know, getting the answers they need. And if I can't get you the answer, we're gonna find you someone who can. Renae Jackson: Mm-hmm. Sarah Loyd: So let's talk about the real world stuff. You mentioned that having a full team for the first time has made a meaningful difference. And for a lot of c government communicators listening, that's really the dream. And what's changed now that you're fully staffed? Renae Jackson: Quality of work is better. maybe ⁓ years ago, a little over 10 years ago, I was a one-person shop. So I did all of the things that we do now. Social media, print our ⁓ community newsletter that goes out 10 times a year, hand, you know, deal with the media, service PIO. And so being able to build a team has been helpful for us to produce quality work, to do more creative and innovative things. and granted, Yes, we need more people, but having four more people or three more people versus just one person in the job has been a tremendous help. And people can see that. And I get excited when people say, ⁓ the Decatur Focus looks a lot better. I want it to, right? I like feel no kind of way when people say that. ⁓ want ⁓ be better. I want everything we do to be better. Sarah Loyd: Yeah. Yeah, and how did you get to the point where you were able to grow your team? How did you make the case to leadership that you needed more help? you know, I know a lot of folks out there that are those one person shops and they want to know like, how can I how can I bring the leadership along and help them see the vision? Renae Jackson: there have been times where I had to break down to some of our leadership the process, especially for social media. It's not just create it and post. This is what I need to do as I'm thinking about the different platforms. And this is the process that I go through and this is how long it takes. Also for us, because we're such a plan heavy organization, pointing back to the strategic plan. You know, really looking at these are the goals. Well, here are the resources that I need to ⁓ make this better. Sarah Loyd: I love the idea of, you know, pointing back to, hey, you guys set these goals and if you want us to hit these goals, you know, we're we're gonna need some help. And really showing your work seems like you know, part of the process of of helping to make that case. So can you tell me maybe what's not working or what's the ongoing challenge that you're actively wrestling with right now? Renae Jackson: So for me right now, one of the biggest challenges is internal communications. are being more intentional about internal ⁓ engagement, but we're still lacking on the employee communications and figuring out the process of that. Again, yes, communication is everybody's goal, equity is everybody's ⁓ job. but when it's everybody's job, sometimes it's nobody's job. And so figuring out like who is taking point on creating the strategy and What does that look like? And we're constantly hearing from employees that they don't know what's happening. And so that's that's something that I'm constantly working through in addition to all of the equity work that we're doing. Sarah Loyd: So you've said that you're constantly paying attention to who's engaged and who isn't in the community, among employees, really everywhere. what's your radar picking up right now? What are you watching, keeping your eye on? Renae Jackson: in the last year we've had more people ⁓ get reengaged than we in the last couple of years. So I am the facilitator of 101, our citizen engagement academy. And I have heard that more people wanted to involved on the local level because they just people people are tired and they, you know, although there's a lot of folks who have lost trust in government. People are trying to figure out how do they tap in and what is the best way to give service back to their community. And so we're really starting to see people get re-energized when it comes to volunteering. Now we still have a a bunch of folks who don't hear from or we don't see because also, again, people are dealing with a lot and still trying to navigate like what does today look like for me? And how where do I have the energy to tap in, to volunteer, or even to just show up? Sarah Loyd: Yeah. you mentioned that kind of unseen part of the community. Is there a particular group that you feel like you still haven't been able to reach very well? Renae Jackson: we're still trying to figure that out. We're still trying to figure that out. So just thinking about how do we go about doing a community needs assessment, how do we understand who's connected to the city, organization and the resources that we have and who's not. ⁓ And it's task sure. Sarah Loyd: Yeah, it's kind of the you don't know what you don't know sort of thing. Renae Jackson: Yes, absolutely. Sarah Loyd: All right, Renae, well it's time for the lightning round. So quick fire, first thing that comes to mind, there's no wrong answers. what's your favorite local spot in Decatur? Renae Jackson: Ooh, you say it's no wrong answers, but I feel like it is. what is my favorite spot? I'll go at Farm Burger. Sarah Loyd: No wrong answers, absolutely. Farm Burger, all right. Renae Jackson: farm burger is quick, it's easy. ⁓ they have chicken burgers, which I'm not a big ⁓ burger person, I love their chicken burgers. Sarah Loyd: All right, and what's the most underrated part of your community? Renae Jackson: We have I would say two things our cemetery and legacy park. Sarah Loyd: Okay. And yeah, your cemetery, that's that's really interesting. Tell me tell me more. Renae Jackson: So we have a lot of people that actually go out to the cemetery to walk and and see it as one of our city's park. Actually, it was one of the city's biggest parks until we bought Legacy Park, which was the former children's home. And so Legacy Park has cross country trail that's out there that I don't think a lot of people know about. And there some nature tours that we have. So there are there are a lot of beaver that live out at Legacy Park. And so having being able to go out there and do those tours. Sarah Loyd: Yeah, that's super cool. And ⁓ if Decatur had a theme song, what would it be? Renae Jackson: it's funny. I was listening listening to Pocketful of Sunshine ⁓ from Bedingfield because I I listened to that song and it talks about like this is my place and we're happy and you know nobody can take me down and I know there have been some things that we have experienced over the years and it's like we just keep on fighting our little oasis and you know it it may not be great all the time, but most of the time we're happy and and it's fun. Sarah Loyd: Yeah. I love that. That's awesome. And what's your one piece of advice for someone who's just starting out in civic engagement? Renae Jackson: Think outside the box. Get creative. Sarah Loyd: Think outside the box. Yeah, do things like World Cup watch parties. Renae Jackson: Yes. Yes. it's okay. We we like to pilot things and that's okay. Sarah Loyd: Yeah, I love that. Yeah. Just just try new things. yeah, I think sometimes people are afraid of making mistakes and they just, you know, maybe stay within the the confines of what's comfortable. But I love that idea of just, you know, getting outside the box and trying something new. Renae Jackson: Government can be fun. Sarah Loyd: right. You heard it here first, folks. Government can be fun. So, Renae, was such a good conversation. Thank you so much for being on the show. And the idea that you have to do the inside work before the outside work actually lands is something I think a lot of communicators really know intuitively, but maybe don't always have the language for. Modern Gov Matters is presented by CivAll, powered by Social News Desk. And if you found this episode helpful or interesting, please share it. And for more episodes, visit moderngovmatters.com. I'm Sarah Loyd, and we'll see you in two weeks.